beauty

I have a little bit of an obsession when it comes to Asian beauty products. It’s never going to end well for my wallet when the packaging is pink, fluffy and all-round cute AF but when the products inside back it up well then that’s ok with me 🙂 This seems to be the case with a lot of the Asian products I have tried over the years as I have seldom come away with a purchase I am disappointed in. I get to travel to different parts of Asia throughout the year for various dance competitions and in the last month or so I’ve visited Hong Kong, China and Taiwan. Booooyyyyy did I have some fun and boy did I snag some goodies! Most of which have become major parts of my daily makeup routine so I thought it only right to share them on ze blog today 🙂

A look at my typical daily makeup 🙂

A few things to be mentioned!

Earlier on in the year I posted a beauty haul from my trip to Hong Kong sharing some goodies I had gotten, some of which were from the world’s cutest beauty store called Etude House. It’s a South Korean brand hosting some very pretty beauty treats and is actually pretty well priced too! So, of course, I had to hit that bad boy up again in my recent trip to Honkers because we don’t have it here in Oz and YOLO. I do tend to get a little excited while I’m in there and this time was no exception. Here are some of the things I got:

Any Cushion All Day Perfect (Cushion Foundation):

The boxed.

The unboxed.

Before I get started.. be warned that the names of these products, whilst hilarious, don’t do a lot in terms of letting you know what I’m actually talking about so I decided to put my own ‘translation’ in brackets. You’re welcome girl 😉 I had tried this foundation a few years ago on my first trip to HK when they gave me a few little samples at the shop. It wasn’t in the cushion form obviously but I still fell in love with the product and so this time I wanted to get me the real deal. It is such a great foundation you guys.. I purchased the colour “Cream Petal” which matches my pale skin really well but also seems to hold up when my skin is a bit tanned too. It contains 50+ SPF and is said to give “long-lasting perfect, elastic makeup”. I can vouch for the long-lasting! It’s pretty full coverage but somehow it does still manage to look natural and dewy? Almost like I naturally have the world’s most perfect skin without even trying haha! It comes with a little flat puff that you literally dab into the foundation cushion and then dab on your face. Its like makeup bingo! Except quicker, it literally takes me about 2 minutes to do my face. I can even sometimes get away with wearing no concealer when I wear this foundation because it works a treat when it comes to covering blemishes and dark circles. The only downside I would say is that the foundation itself doesn’t last very long (the package is (0.49oz). I have a pretty small face so I don’t think I’m using tonnes of the stuff but it does disappear quickly, mine is on its last legs already after roughly 5 weeks and I haven’t even been using it every day. Shame 🙁

Fix + Fix Fixing Powder (Translucent Powder):

The boxed.

The unboxed.

Well, I think this guy’s job is to fix.. what do ya reckon!? Fix Fix Fixing Fixative Fix Powder. Haha jokes aside, this stuff fixes good. Real good. Having super pale skin I have been trying to find a translucent powder that doesn’t alter the colour of my concealer/ foundation and so far.. no dice. I have my Laura Mercier powder which I love to use for competitions but using it as a daily powder when I have no tan on = my under eyes being a totes different colour to my face. #notgoals. But no more needing to weep because fix + fix Fixing Powder to the rescue! It leaves no residue on top of my skin, doesn’t alter the colour of the concealer underneath it and it is so finely milled that it doesn’t leave your wrinkles all cakey and dry looking. My under eyes are pretty prone to dryness so I have to go really sparingly with powder under there (no baking for me!) and this stuff just seems to work an absolute treat. It also comes with a poof which I don’t mind using if I need to powder larger parts of my face but for under my eyes I just sweep some across with a small brush 🙂

Lovely Cookie Blusher (Blush):

Strawberry Shortcake pink <3

Strawberry Shortcake in action!

If there’s one makeup product that I have only ever purchased in Asia then its got to be blush. One of my all time favourites is a Japanese brand called Canmake because they have the softest, most beautiful, cotton candy colours that just look so good on pale skin and better yet they are OH SO AFFORDABLE! I have found a shop in Oz that sells that blush but I was touching pan by the time I’d gotten to Asia so I was planning on getting a freshie. That was until I came across the Lovely Cookie Blush. the packaging was bloody ADORABLE for starters and they had that perfect shade of pink I was looking for, “Strawberry Shortcake”. YUM. It is yummy on my skin too, it goes on smooth leaving a matte-finish pink shade that has you looking rosy and soft. Plus it was only around $10 AUD so you can’t go wrong! Look at all Etude House has to offer here.

Next up are a few little things I picked up in Taiwan. Taiwan actually caught me off guard because I wasn’t really expecting to do any shopping there but one morning when Steve and I had nothing to do we decided to go for a little venture to the closest shopping district. We got there around 10am and nothing was open. Not even coffee shops… It was already around 35 degrees celsius and after our half an hour walk we were hanging for some air conditioning. Queue random looking dollar store! Well it turned out that this was probably the best dollar store I’d ever been to! They had EVERYTHING in there. Literally anything you could think of was inside this 4 storey shop ranging from make-up to garden tools to food to electronics. It was crazy town up in there and it was all uber cheap. I’m talking decent quality socks for 75cAUD cheap. I got a little amped and bought a few things. I got some mascara for $7AUD, 3 pairs of socks, a packet of 20 pairs of good eyelashes for $12AUD, a shower cap for $3AUD and a few other goodies. But the one thing I wanted to mention today has been something that I have seen kicking about in Sephora and other shops that I have looked at and thought to myself who on earth would buy those? Why would you need something so ridiculous? Well.. it turns out I am now a hypocrite and I love them. Much like my selfie stick!

Mini Beauty Blenders:

So mini, so cute!

If you haven’t seen these before they are those little tear drops that are a quarter of the size of the actual beauty blender. They sell at Sephora for $30AUD for 2 but I picked them up at this little dollar joint for $4AUD for 4!! A buck each. Honestly, I think the whole reason as to why I bought them was because I was so surprised at how cheap they were and I thought what the heck I’ll give them a go! Turns out they are actually pretty darn helpful! They get into all the little places that my normal beauty blender struggles to reach properly and they are just that little bit firmer so they really pat the product into the skin well. I use it everyday for my concealer under my eyes, for blending around my nose and eyebrows and for smoothing products on my eyelids. I don’t think I would pay $15 for 1 though now that I know that somewhere is actually selling them for a dollar but I have seen online that Real Techniques sell 4 for about $9AUD which for me seems more reasonable. Just google mini beauty blender if you are keen at shopping around for some or if all else fails head on over to Sephora 😉

Follow me over on Snappy @ Rachellemp 😉

Asian beauty products may not be for everyone but believe me if you are fair-skinned, they ARE for you! They do also tailor to warmer skin tones aswell so don’t just think that it’s all for us pale folk! So give it a go, you’ll never know til you try 😉 Until next time ladies…

Howdy friends! So, I’ve just recently gotten home from a two-week stint in Asia competing, practicing and teaching and once again I’m trying to recalibrate my ‘home groove’. I don’t know about you guys but I definitely find that it takes me a few days to truly settle in to wherever I am and whatever I’m doing and let me tell you, living as an ever-travelling, competing ballroom dancer, that can make life pretty tough at times! Luckily though, no matter where in the world I am, I can always rely on certain things to help a sister out and today I thought I’d share those things with you 🙂

Repping Australia In China

Hand sanitiser:

This is only a relatively new thing in my life and was really brought to my attention while I was aboard the NCL Epic Cruise ship. The constant reminder of “washy, washy – happy, happy” songs and hand sanitising stations made me become a total germaphobe! I had never really thought about germs so much up until that point and then all of a sudden I was questioning EVERYTHING! Especially the poor old breakfast buffet. In my defence though I was also hearing some pretty horrific buffet stories from friends aboard the ship too which obviously didn’t help either! Nevertheless, it changed me and after washy, washy-ing 200 times a day (I kid, I kid… or do I?) for a whole week, hand sanitiser is now a part of my life. Thinking about it now though it kind of makes sense considering my constant state of travel and the fact that my job entails me holding people’s hands! What’s even better about this new obsession is that you can buy the sanitisers in such cutie patootie packaging!! I’m such a child when it comes to things like this; give me something pink and cute and I’m bloody sold so for me it’s a double win! I found these Gudetama hand sanitisers in Hong Kong and they are so dang cute with their little detachable loop bands making it easy for you to bang it on your bag and they smell like peachy goodness. The little pink guy on my backpack was a gift from a student so I’m not sure where it’s from 🙁 but still.. BEST STUDENT EVER AWARD!

Gudetama Hand Sanitisers.. too cute 🙂

CHECK OUT HOW CUTE HE IS! I mean the Sanitiser not the cool cat in the background btw.

Travel sickness tablets:

Yep, I’m one of those people. One of the one’s quietly winding down the window in the back of a car on a -2 degree day, one of the one’s getting all woozy when the plane is doing a million circles before landing into Heathrow, one of the one’s who should have travel sickness tablets on them at all times. You never know when that sickness is going to strike so I have learnt that it’s better to be prepared than to suffer in sick silence. I’m talking the proper stuff by the way, none of this ginger tablet crap that does absolutely nothing. A brand I often buy is Kwells and honestly I’ve been taking them for so long that the mere thought of them makes me want to gag, but boy do they work! One trip I was feeling confident and I decided to see if all my travel hours had paid off and given me some sort of immunity to travel sickness so I bought some of these pressure band things. Big mistake that was.. half way through the flight turbulence struck and the old pressure bands weren’t doing much other than putting large indentations in between my wrist bones. So, never again! I always travel with them and they come in so handy, especially considering they are quite small so if you have to (wouldn’t recommend it though) you can swallow them (don’t do it) without water (just don’t!).

Because I can’t find a pic relating to travel sickness so I’ll post one of travel instead. In Hong Kong at Victoria Peak.

With my girl Lady Gags, she had just finished telling me that she also suffers from travel sickness… true story.

Travel sized perfume:

As I’ve mentioned before here, I’m slightly obsessed with perfume. So it’s kind of no brainer that this would be on my list but when I’m travelling I find it much easier to opt for something more suited to my handbag size so I have access to it whenever I need a refresh. Smelling good is always appreciated and in my field of dance where it’s literally body on body, I think its super important (*cough, cough* men take note!) that you have the respect to not smell like an old wash cloth 🙂 I have a few different options I love to keep in my bag at different times. One being this small Elizabeth and James roll on that I bought at Sephora, it wasn’t too expensive, smells beautiful and is small enough that you can pop a bit of fragrance on in a hurry and chuck it back in your bag without it weighing your bag down or taking up too much space. Another option I like is to use the little tester perfumes you sometimes receive when buying or trying a new perfume. I always make sure to put them in a small pocket in my bag though so they can’t roll around and leak perfume everywhere! Finally, something I’m using at the moment which I also received as a welcome home gift from a student (I know, my students rock!) is this travel sized Chanel No.5 bottle which came with two refills! I think its perfect for the hand bag because it is small and sleek and the wind up, wind down feature means you don’t have to worry about lids falling off and leakage. Also, the two refills give me a little confidence to wear No5 everyday.. yes please!!

Elizabeth and James “Nirvana” and Miu Miu “L’eau Bleue”

Chanel No.5 is one of my all time favourites <3

Face masks:

My face and skin undergoes constant change depending on my surroundings. I know how I’m feeling or how my body’s doing just from looking at my face. Dark circles, puffy eyes, dry lips, pimples – I get the works and sometimes if I really don’t take care of myself I get them all at once. HOT. I still haven’t found the cure for puffiness under the eyes (if anyone out there knows of any product they can recommend I’m all for it!) but I do know that there is something about Asia that makes it really bad. I don’t think its the food as I tried for a few days to eat super clean; veg, fruit, green juice, nuts and rice and I still woke up with severely puffy eyes and soreness. I think it may have something to do with the aircon in the hotel rooms but I’m not sure. All I know is that its the bane of my existence while Im there. Anyway I digress! Luckily, I can throw my skin a bone via the help of different face masks. I’ve tried all sorts of face masks in the past but one that I’m loving at the moment and that I found really helps to ‘wake’ my face up is the GlamGlow YouthMud mask. I bought this on my cruise as I’d heard so much about Glam Glow and decided to give it a go #poet. Now bearing in mind I have sensitive skin, the first time I tried this bad boy, I had to wash it off within 20 seconds. It was burning like hell! But after doing a bit of research online I read that it may cause a tingling feeling so I drank some cement and gave it another go. Burny Burn Town once again! But this time I persisted and it did pass and it was even followed with a pleasant cooling sensation which was highly appreciated in my case. it goes on as a thick ‘mud’ and after about 5 minutes dries to being rock hard giving you what I can only describe as all over botox face. You can leave it on for up to 15 minutes and when you rinse it off your skin will feel baby bum smooth. I feel like it really de-puffs my face as well and leaving my skin in the perfect pre-makeup state. I simply follow with my usual moisturiser and then I can apply my makeup straight away with out the fear of it slipping and sliding all over the joint. Definitely recommend it to anyone who, like me, wakes up looking like they were involved in a mild car accident overnight.

GLAMGLOW YOUTHMUD.

The mud in the tub.

So there are some of my secrets, what are yours!? Let me know in the comments below 🙂

Pretty over-dramatic title up there I know, I mean talk about #firstworldproblems, “Oh no, I can’t live without this specific Shampoo or my life will literally end!” But c’mon we’ve all been there right!? You’ve finally found that amazing product that takes all of the stress of searching through the aisles (or pages if you’re a bit of an online shopper!) away and then POOF! Its been discontinued. Truly devastating. Its like recently my hairdresser has decided to move forward with his studies and has therefore decided to stop hairdressing which is obviously so great for him but when I was on the receiving end of the news I was gutted! I felt like it was the end of the world or he had died or something (again, slightly over-dramatic maybe?). But anyway, I’ve gotten over it now and I’m working on ways to move forward *enter gentle sobbing*. So today I wanted to talk about my good old shampoo and conditioner. Two very important products in my life and if you love your hair, they should be important in yours too! I did a post similar to this last year but I wanted to give an updated version because a) they discontinued my shampoo (I know!) b) I’ve tried some other mediocre products which made me love mine more and c) I really need to harp on a bit more about how banging my conditioner is.

Just a pic of my hair from the back incase you don’t know me..or my hair!

About a month ago I was informed that De Lorenzo had decided to can my colour (Claret) in their shampoo range. After continuously shouting “WHY, WHY, WHYYY DE LORENZO!” and other profanities such as “IT WAS JUST THE PERFECT COLOUR, WAAAHH”, I pulled myself together and decided to try something new. After doing my usual read a million reviews online, I narrowed it down to a red shampoo by Davines. People were saying it was awesome and I thought man this stuff is gonna be good surely! Well, turns out most of those people probably haven’t tried De Lorenzo’s products or they were looking for something a little different to me. Maybe the shampoo would be really great if you wanted to add some soft red tones to your already light, blonde hair but for me having already red hair, it wasn’t very noticeable. Usually I would get out of the shower and be like BAM! New colour! To the point that sometimes people ask me if I’ve just gotten my hair done (yes, it’s that good). But after trialling this stuff for a few weeks my hair was starting to look a little dull and with my colour only being a demi-permanent it wasn’t helping it fade gracefully y’know. What a bummer.

Davines Red Shampoo

The colour of the pigment – quite translucent

So a few days before I went on a month away trip I decided to head to some shops in search of my old faithful De Lorenzo to see if I could scramble up any last bottles of Claret. Upon my looking I saw they had a few other red shampoo’s available in their range (Claret was well and truly gone) and I went with a bottle of ‘Fire Red’. Fire Red is said to enhance vibrant red-orange tones in coloured or natural hair. Could be a win or could be a total fail, but luckily for me it turned out to be a win! The colour was so similar to Claret it me wonder if that’s why they discontinued it in the first place. So whatever your hair colour, or whether your hair is coloured or not, definitely go and check out the De Lorenzo range to see if they have any shampoos or conditioners which might help you enhance your tresses. Be careful as to not make it become your only shampoo though as it can be a bit drying and that’s not what you want! I usually go with using it every second wash and that works a treat for me. The best thing is that the shampoo is made from all natural plant products and it’s made right here in Oz! I love a good Vegan product that can stand up to others and the pigment in this shampoo is so potent that it literally colours my hands and nails when I’m applying it! But fear not worry warts! It all washes off by the time I get out of the shower so don’t think you have to go all crazy wearing surgeon gloves in the shower to save your manicure 😉 Head on over to http://www.salonstyle.com.au to shop the range or click here to check out my home boy, Fire Red.

De Lorenzo Fire Red

Colour of the pigment.. that’s what I’m talking ’bout!

While I was away on my recent dance trip/holiday (which you can read about here!) I ran out of conditioner. Now again I know it sounds like nothing and I thought the same, I was like that’s fine I’ll just grab something else and my hair will remain in its awesome state. BA BOWWWW. I headed to Boots and hit the conditioner section; popular brand – check, slightly expensive – check, pretty packaging – check, picked a winner, no problems. Ah, where to start.. I had to use half the dang bottle to coat my long, thick hair (I usually only use about a 50c piece worth), I had to leave it in for 5 to 10 minutes (hate that, especially in a shower in Blackpool which is more like a scolding hot drizzle from a teapot than a shower AND when I usually only have to wait 30 seconds to a minute) and I got no bloody pay off after waiting all that time! After using it for a couple of weeks my hair was becoming pretty dry and after all the torment I was giving it from being styled into lavish dance do’s (lavish, dahling) this stuff wasn’t helping to restore it back to its usually happy, bouncy self. Once I got back to my house and a bottle of my conditioner – Pureology Hydrate Condition, I was home. My hair was back! Having that time without it made me realise how great it makes my hair feel and look and made me love it even more *insert heart eyes emoji. It may sound so ridiculous that a conditioner can bring so much joy but I’ve tried SO MANY conditioners over the years from Pantene to high end salon brands and this stuff just takes the cake. This conditioner is also 100% Vegan created with the best and purest products specifically for colour specialists and their clients. So if you have coloured hair, this stuff is for you! You just bang it on, wait 30 seconds and rinse off to feel the magic it has worked; it brings hydration, strength and shine all back to your hair without using any nasties. Did I mention it’s inexpensive too so just quietly.. TRY IT!! You can only buy this brand in specific salons but to make things easier click this link to purchase it online and get it delivered to your door!

Howdy from Hong Kong! Gosh I love Honkers. It’s such a bustling, crazy little place where the streets are always filled with people, everything is open til later than late and there are TOO MANY beauty shops. Imagine 5 different versions of Priceline (Australia) or Boots (UK) and then put a dozen of them within a 5 km radius of one another and that’s Hong Kong. Then rather than imagining those shops to be all set out in a spacious and clear manner, change that to everything being piled ontop of one another and filled with brands and products you’ve never heard of. It’s a girls paradise! Whenever I come to HK I always make sure to stock up on all the different beauty buys that I know I cant get elsewhere. It’s also a place where I find myself trying so many different and new things and being a fair-skinned lass, the products seem to be made for me! So, because I only really had yesterday free in the whole week that I’m here I tried to cram the bulk of my beauty hunting into one day and I still managed to come away with some bargains! Let’s have a little looksie shall we?

Goodies!

First up, face masks. I haven’t really gone into too much detail on my blog as to how obsessed I am with sheet masks. But I guess cat’s out of the bag now!! After travelling to different parts of Asia for the past 7 years, I quickly noticed how beautiful and young Asian skin looks. This can’t all be because of great genes can it!? One thing I have learnt is that Asian women put a lot of time, effort and care into maintaining the youthfulness of their skin and a big part of their regime is face masks. This is pretty obvious from the minute you step into any beauty store as the places are usually decked out with massive skin care sections featuring hundreds of different sheet masks all claiming to do various things. Snail goo masks, bird’s nest masks, bee pollen masks, horse oil masks.. there are definitely some strange ones but there are also a fair few that are much less daunting. I’ve tried so many different ones and I am honestly yet to find one that I feel hasn’t left my skin feeling better than before I put it on. I guess you just have to be clear in what you feel your skin needs and then try to either ask one of the staff to help you or try to find parts on the box that are actually written in english and then find something that offers what you need. I always tend to sway toward the same things which include brightening, tightening, moisturising and collagen masks. This time the shop I was in was offering a bit of a deal on some boxes and so I got the 24K Gold Hydra Ampoule Mask by Fresh Nation. There seems to be a lot of hype surrounding ‘gold’ masks and this one contains an extra separate section containing ‘ampoule’ which is basically a concentrated, stronger version of the product that you apply first before the sheet mask. This mask is good for moisturising and hydrating the skin whilst improving elasticity and vitality. Sounds good to me, cant wait to try it!

FACE MASKS!

24K Gold Hydra Ampoule Mask

There is the cutest shop ever located right in Causeway Bay called Etude House which is Korean based and stocks oh so many cutesy beauty bits. I don’t often buy many things from here because the first time I found it, I went totally overboard due to the cute-ness and was left slightly underwhelmed on the quality of the tester samples they gave me, but it is always fun to see what new things they have on offer. They also have billions of face masks so I picked up a collagen one (always a winner!) and a Cherry Jelly lips patch because YOLO. The lips patch contains collagen, sodium hyaluronate and cherry extract which will help the lips feel moisturised, revitalised and plump which sounded great for my post flying, dehydrated non-plump lips. I also got a little charcoal chin patch because I’ve had a bit of a chin breakout 🙁

Goodies from Etude House

Touristing!

Over at Sasa (the joint that seems to be the major player in beauty here) I found a replica of the Silisponge. If you haven’t heard of the Silisponge don’t be too alarmed as it’s a relatively new product which was produced in Korea to rival the good old beauty blender. Its made out of silicone and is meant to be a lot more hygienic than a normal sponge and it doesn’t soak up all of your precious product. I first saw it online and didn’t even bother trying to order one because it was completely sold out. It hasn’t taken long for other companies to steal the idea and make their own! I gave it a go this morning and whilst I did feel like I was slapping my face with a silicone chicken fillet (for your bra), it did give a nice finish and I barely used any product. Plus the sponge washed off clean as a whistle afterwards so no more nasty germs! What I found most hilarious about this buy though was compared to the usual AUD$30 Sephora like to charge for the Beauty Blender (I don’t get it?) I paid AUD$5 for this little guy. I’m pretty sure I won’t have to be replacing it every 3 months either!!

Sasa is everywhere!

Silicone sponge

I got a few random bits from a shop called Mannings Plus which reminded me of a pharmacy or chemist in Australia but still contained sooooo many exciting things! I bought a charcoal toothbrush because mine had unfortunately been ruined by my red shampoo some 36,000 feet up in the air. There is always something that has to leak/explode isn’t there! Also, Id never seen charcoal toothbrushes before? Apparently the charcoal is meant to remove stains from teeth, be naturally antibacterial and balance the pH level of the mouth which reduces cavity forming bacteria. I’d heard of charcoal toothpaste but these bad boys are next level! I also got some Revlon airbrush effect foundation, pretty boring I know as it’s not in cushion form and isn’t some new age asian bb cream but this stuff is great for competitions and I have completely run out of comp makeup 🙂 Also it was AUD$7 cheaper than what I pay in Australia.. BARGAIN!

Speaking of bargains, there’s one last thing Id like to mention. About a month ago I did a little online shopping and purchased some Crest 3D Whitening Strips from America. This product isn’t sold in Australia but I had heard from a couple of friends who had been to America and bought it say that the strips are AMAZING and their teeth spoke the truth! All up it cost me AUD$90 for the Professional Effects pack (not the bargain I’m speaking about btw) and it took roughly 2 weeks for the delivery. It contains 20 treatments and I’ve been sharing it with my boyfriend and we have had some pretty positive results! Anyway, I found the same product in Mannings for the price of AUD $30. 1/3 of the price. I know. CRAZY. So I guess I know where I’ll be purchasing this stuff from in the future huh! But seriously I would still buy these things even if I had to pay the $90 because my teeth have literally lightened a few shades already. I have taken progress pics but I feel like they would seriously ruin the prettiness of my blog, so use your imagination guys 😉

Bits and bobs!

Up on the 23rd floor

Well that’s it! Has anyone else been to Asia and are there any items/products that you would recommend getting? I know the mascara here is off the chain and they have amazing falsies too 🙂 Let me know in the comments below.

As we all know here (if you read my blog, otherwise if not Hello and Welcome!) I love me a good strong black coffee. Everyday. Sometimes twice a day. But what I haven’t really mentioned is that I also enjoy the occasional red wine too. What do these drinks have to do with anything I hear you say? Teeth stains, that’s what! Not the most glamorous of subjects on my blog I know, but I think it’s one most of us can relate to! Recently I’ve been trialling a few tooth whitening products.. and no I don’t mean Bi-Carb Soda or Coconut Oil, I mean real products that actually work and I decided to share some thoughts on one that I think is a bit of a bargain.

Hello Smile pen 🙂

If your like me and have creepy social media that knows what you’re looking for in life you then you will have adverts crop up that make you think “HOW THE EFF DOES IT KNOW I WANT THAT?!”, yes well some of my adverts of late have been tooth whitening products. Previously I had bought an LED kit online which is basically a UV light connected to a mouth guard that you fill up with whitening gel and then leave in your mouth for 10 minutes. Whilst it did lighten my teeth a couple of shades it wasn’t really a product I wanted to write home about (or write internet about as you can see by lack of previous tooth whitening post!). So after I ran out of that, Instagram basically read my mind and starting sending me subliminal messages through its adverts to give the brand HelloSmile a go. Naturally, I went onto their IG page, saw their results and was pretty keen to give their product a go. Subliminal advertising: 1 Rachelle: 0. I did see they also stock the LED kits but because of my shite past experience with the last brand, I decided on getting the tooth whitening pen instead 🙂 I bought the Double pack online which was two pens for $54.. total bargain I reckon! This way I had one for me and one for Seewah (there is a story behind that nickname by the way, remind me to tell you sometime..) so he couldn’t steal mine like I knew he would. Being an Aussie brand I got free postage (wooo!) and delivery times around Australia can take anywhere between 4-8 business days. It was bang on 8 days for me here in Sydney. They also ship internationally for all my non-Aussie readers out there, so don’t go getting all disparaged 😉

They arrived in my post box, 2 sleek silver pens that you simply twist to dispense the gel from the little brush at the top (you will need to twist that bad boy a fair amount the first time by the way, just to get the pen working). You then apply a thin layer of the gel all over your teeth, keeping away from your gums. Try to keep your lips out of ze way for 30 seconds after applying so the product can dry/ get to work. After that you can relax and carry on with your day with no need to rinse, brush or do anything afterwards. Just be sure not to eat or drink anything for 20 minutes after applying. The bleach gets to work immediately and the product just naturally dissipates as time goes on. Your teeth may froth up a bit (mine don’t, Steve’s do hahaha) but they said that is absolutely normal as the product is not only whitening but it’s also cleaning your teeth too. What a bloody product!

I noticed a difference with my teeth IMMEDIATELY. I’m not exaggerating as you know I wouldn’t be writing this post if it didn’t impress me (looking at you unnamed previous product!) and the noticeable difference wasn’t only on my teeth but actually more so on my boyfriend’s! Usually teeth whitening products have zero effect on his teeth but both of us were in shock when we could actually see a change, even after the first application. The pen is so small, light and convenient so it would be super easy to travel with or just chuck in your handbag for whitening on the go. I was even thinking the pen could be a cute stocking stuffer/prezzie for Christmas? No? Too far? C’mooon who doesn’t love a good set of pearly whites!? I’ve just been putting it on in the morning after I’ve had my brekkie and brushed my teeth and it has all dissipated by the time I’m ready to start the day. The best thing is you don’t have to sit around with mouth guards in your teeth in complete silence for 10-20 minutes and there is absolutely no after pain or sensitivity like I’ve experienced with some other products I got from the Dentist. So for those of you out there interested in whitening your chompers, I would definitely recommend giving HelloSmile a go.

If you have any more questions on the products or want to know a bit more click here to head to the FAQ page on HelloSmile’s website. Otherwise if you need a little more encouragement click here for the Instagram Page that contains all the proof in the pudding through big smiley faces 🙂

I’m a bit of an avid YouTube watcher.. #guilty. In my spare time I love getting on my laptop, coffee in hand and browsing through some of my favourite YouTube channels. I watch a variety of things on there.. whether its related to beauty, makeup, dancing or even Veganism. But today I wanted to talk about some of my fave Beauty bloggers! The greatest thing about YouTube is that it satisfies our inquisitive sides giving us a look into tips, trick and trends from people who dedicate their lives to these subjects and their channels. I just love how it’s so easy to just go on there, search for almost anything and at the click of your fingers you have a mass of videos related to that topic. Don’t get me wrong though, I do still love me my blogs and magazines, those badgirls are always great to come back to after I’m sick of listening to someone ramble and clicking my way through the time bar to get the point! So I like to mix it up between actual reading and viewing 🙂 Sometimes, watching how different people apply makeup and change their face can be so relaxing.. but also, inspiring!

Lisa Eldridge

First up I want to mention my all time favourite – Lisa Eldridge. You may have heard me mention Lisa before but if you haven’t she is a famous professional makeup artist to the stars that has a channel to show us how she works her magic! She plays with faces like Kate Winslet, Keira Knightley, Kate Moss and Rosie Huntington-Whitely to name a few, so woman knows what she’s doing! She has an obsession with makeup, not just of today but stemming back to how makeup came about and all the trends through the decades. I love not only her stunning English accent but the way she creates such bright and fresh makeup looks. She has quite a minimalistic approach to makeup but the finished products look so damn flawless I just don’t know how she does it! I always find her channel helpful because not only does she talk about what works for her but she does tutorials related to other skin types and tones too. These days it’s all about the Kardashian/Jenner inspired look which is difficult for me being a pale redhead.. I aint ever going to be able to rock that! So this is another reason why I love Lisa because she seems to be very much about old school glam and making each and every person discover what their own “look” is and then playing on that. Because she has spent a bit of time working around the world she also knows a lot about different makeup cultures which I also find so interesting! I love the way the Japanese do makeup and have a bit of an obsession with asian products and it seems that is something that Lisa enjoys too. She used to work for an asian brand so she knows quite a bit about how they like to do makeup and what they find beautiful and I might be crazy but I really find this sort of thing super interesting 🙂

Carli Bybel

Someone a little younger on the Tube is me old mate Carli Bybel. Just joking, I don’t know her from a bar of soap but she talks to me on there as if we are mates so sometimes it’s confusing. Also when I say younger, I don’t mean young as she is actually the same age as me.. (26 for all of you playing out there). I often find myself watching her videos just to ogle at her beauty! This gal has some god given looks, let me tell you. But also, she is really great to watch because she knows how to get that glam look going. Whats even better is that she is Vegan so she often suggests vegan and cruelty free products that she has tried and loved/hated. Quick side note – I am trying to use some more vegan products on my face and have been loving the brands Cover FX and Tarte cosmetics. Both brands are vegan and cruelty free and can be shopped in Sephora stores near you! Carli is one of the people I was referring to that easily start to ramble but that is mainly in her VLOG’s so if you are into that then that’s cool but some of the makeup looks she creates really are beautiful. Not only does she talk about makeup but she also mentions new products and things that she has been loving. All that girly stuff we love!

Miss Fame

A channel that I’ve recently come by that doesn’t have an abundance of videos but what is on there is absolute GOLD is Miss Fame. Some of you may have heard of Miss Fame before? She is a drag queen that became popular on the tv show RuPaul’s Drag Race and let me tell you this queen is farking fierce. She actually just got signed to IMG models in America, being the first ever drag queen to be signed at a high-end agency sooo yeah she = HOT. She does makeup that makes me want to be a drag queen, I’m not joking! A new dream of mine is to one day have Miss Fame do my makeup because this shit is off the chain. Dance competition makeup can sometimes rival drag makeup so I love watching a few queens on YouTube (Jeffree Star is also amazing) to learn some of the tricks of the trade. So if you are a dancer or you just love that heavy-duty OTT makeup style complete from glueing your eyebrows down to rocking a wig then this channel is for you! It is literally the best makeup I’ve ever seen, the other day I showed Steve one of the transformations and let me just say, profanities were shouted haha! Miss Fame makes me want to do makeup better and more often and I just love how much they know about how to change the face and make things appear differently. It’s all about that contour baby! Definitely worth a look at!!

Desi Perkins

Ok, one more worth a mention is Desi Perkins. This girl is tooooo cool. I actually came about her via one of my besties Rach Macintosh (also has a YouTube channel Rachel Macintosh! Go check her out and SUBSCRIBE!!) as Rachel did a makeup look on her channel inspired by Desi which was just so beautiful. So naturally I was like who is this Desi girl and let me see this gorgeous orange-y makeup first hand! Yeah, she didn’t disappoint. She always creates such a flawless base, her eyebrows are 2 small perfect dreamboats and the way she blends colours is just melt-worthy. The way she creates her videos are so amazing too.. the quality of the picture and something about the way she cuts the videos are just super professional. I think her vids may actually be the best on YouTube.. big call right there! She is latina so obviously her and I don’t have many similarities but she has experience on dealing with under eye creasing (the bane of my existence) and I she and I share a love for all things coral-ly. She is always up-to-date with new products and whats hot so if you want to keep in the loop, Desi is your gal. Everything she does is so immaculate and beautiful, ranging from the colours she chooses to the finish she gets. I think the picture says it all really!!

So I think that’s all I’ll mention today guys otherwise I might be here all bloody day. Who knew I had such an obsession!? Surprised myself even!! What are some of your favourite YouTube channels? Comment below 🙂 and please don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE to this old blogging blog if you want updates on my babble first hand.

Big call in the old title there. All-time favourite. This product must really be something you are probably thinking.. and let me tell you oh yes it is! As you know if you’ve read my blogs I really am one for changing it up with my beauty game but when a product is this good, it stays. I’ve been using the Eve Lom cleanser for the best part of 6 years now and it is still something I love so damn much! So I decided after purchasing a new tub of the stuff the other day whilst here in the UK, what better time than now to share that love 🙂

If you haven’t heard of Eve Lom before then let me share a little bit about it for you. It’s a UK-based brand but is stocked in a couple of places in Oz now, the main place I know of is in Mecca stores (you know like Cosmetica, Maxima and any other -a’s I can’t think of). The cleanser was the first product that Eve Lom ever launched and to this day is still the best seller. Vogue even proclaimed it as “probably the best cleanser in the world” with “probably” meaning definitely I’m sure. I haven’t seen anything else on the market that comes close to it in the way that it’s a cleanser, toner and moisturiser all-in-one. I’ve tried a few other balmy type cleansers with a similar style to this one but most of them leave an oily residue on my face and some have even caused breakouts.. not what you want. It is slightly pricey though, with the 100ml retailing for around A$105 and the 200ml for A$163. But when you take in to account the amount you are using (a thumb size) and the fact that it’s your cleanser, toner and moisturiser in one it really isn’t that bad (in my opinion!). The 200ml tub usually lasts me around 6 months and that’s when I used to use it every night.. more about that later.

Describing the product is a bit of a tricky one. Picture vaseline but thicker with a very fine grit through it. Very descriptive I know but I guess you just have to experience it to understand. It contains 4 signature plant oils that give it its distinct fragrance which is slightly medicinal, but I love it (my mum hated it though.. you win some, you lose some!). It removes all traces of make-up (even waterproof mascara!!), cleanses and exfoliates, decongests the face through the massage ritual suggested and regulates your natural oil balance. All good things in my books when it comes to my skin!

Another great thing about the product is how quick and easy it is. I simply scoop out a small glob of it, rub between my fingers to warm it up slightly and then massage directly onto my made-up face. Don’t worry about taking your make-up off before hand as this product is meant to do that for you! All-in-one remember!? Once I’ve really un-settled all that make up, I take the muslin cloth (provided) and soak in some warm water, wring out the excess water, press onto my face for roughly 5 seconds and gently swipe away the day! I repeat this process 3 times and then do one more after running the muslin cloth under cold water to close up all my pores. This is amazing for those nights when I come home after a day in the studio and just want to get my face off quickly so that I can watch a couple of episodes of Suits (p.s Harvey Specter… marry me?) and eat my dinner. Other times, when I do have a bit of motivation left in me I quite enjoy the process of taking my makeup off, cleansing, toning and moisturising separately so I like to mix it up using the cleanser maybe 2-3 times a week.

For those days that you have a little more time on your hands, Eve Lom suggest a 7 step facial massage technique that should be paired with the cleanser. They recommend it to be done once or twice a week as it is great for reducing any puffiness and really giving the skin a deep cleanse. I am a little bit forgetful and don’t remember to do this that often but I do sometimes like to do it whilst sat in front of the TV as I find it’s super relaxing. For those of you interested I’ll post a little YouTube video of one of my favourite beauty YouTubers Lisa Eldridge and you can follow along with her as she demonstrates some of her facial massage techniques. She recommends a few different products that can be used for this tutorial but I like to do it with Eve Lom of course!

Obviously I can’t say that this product will work for you but all I can say is that it works a treat for my normal/dry/slightly sensitive skin! If you are interested maybe try some of their sample sizes and give it a go, because who knows it could become your fave too! What are some cleansers or balms that you have loved or loathed? Leave me some comments below 🙂

It’s been over a month since my last Sunday Funday post. This is not due to sheer laziness but actually because its been that dang long since I’ve had a proper day off! So needless to say, yesterday was definitely overdue. We spent the day traipsing around Sydney, taking it all in 🙂 My favourite kind of day. I also managed to collect a few goodies along the way which I will share below!

After a pretty lazy morning at home we managed to pull ourselves together and were in Pitt Street by about midday. First stop, food! I love the food court on the top floor of the Westfield and didn’t have to hint at Steve for long before we were up there downing some sushi. I had a cucumber pack and an avo pack, 2 little dreamboats of sushi goodness. Totally stuffed, we wandered around the Westfield for a bit until finally decided it was time to head out and get some good old Vitamin D.

Laura Mercier Powder and Bye, bye under-eye testers

It wasn’t long before I was back inside getting some advice from a girl at Sephora on a couple of products I had been eyeing off for a while. As a side note, Steve is actually the best shopping companion in the world because he will literally force you to buy something when you are in ‘humming and haa-ing’ mode. This is great for me because it is basically a state I am in every time I go shopping. So ladies, if you are looking for a shopping buddy, Steve is your go-to guy! I ended up leaving with the Laura Mercier loose setting powder (which is usually always out of stock so huzzar!) and a couple of testers of the bye, bye under eye anti-ageing concealer by IT Cosmetics (one of my girlfriends raves over this stuff so I had to give it a go). Sephora, done!

Inside Gumption by Coffee Alchemy

We then meandered over to the Strand Arcade to our favourite coffee shop in Sydney, Gumption by Coffee Alchemy. If you are a serious coffee lover then I suggest you stop whatever you are doing (uh, reading my blog?), fly, drive, or jet pack your way to Sydney and go to Gumption. The coffee there is AMAZING. I once had to go back for seconds becauseit’s that good. The coffee jitters that followed however, not so good. But alas, the queue at the front of the cute, little store says it all. Coffee in hand it was time to attack another one of our favourites, COS (Collection of Style) in Martin Place.

If you haven’t been to COS, it’s probably ‘cos (see what I did) its relatively new to Australia. It’s a fashion store run by H&M and I’ve been delving into their collection for a year or so now in London and a few times in Hong Kong. The styles are all very minimalist, modern but still classic. I love the pieces there because everything I have bought feels timeless and fashionable without being a ‘trend’. Also the quality of their garments is high but not over priced! I always feel Scandinavia knows how its done when it comes to clothing and COS just goes to show it! Having said all this though, nothing really grabbed me this trip except for a men’s scarf which I bought for Steve 🙂

Seewah and his scarf

Chilling at Darling Harbour

If you haven’t been to Sydney before (what are you doing?!?) then let me tell you, it’s a bit of a trek getting from place to place. So best wear some comfy shoes. I luckily decided to change out of a pair of heeled boots into some sneakers before we left home because girl knows when your going to the city, some serious walking is going to be done (13,471 steps to be exact). These steps were accrued as we made our way to Darling Harbour where we enjoyed some more sunshine. It was there we decided to continue on to Chinatown and on our way Steve forced me to watch a street performance. I say forced because I absolutely hate street performances and today’s show really solidified that claim. In short it was a b-boy, who was really good at building up hype and then followed it with…. nothing. Nothing except a massive anti climax and also, not much break-dancing!? He had a grand total of 2 performances the first being “happy” and the second “serious”. We, along with half of the rest of the audience, bailed after the abysmal first show feeling rather un-happy.

Korean beauty buys from Morning Glory

Once we got to Chinatown, I had a little look around and picked up a few treats from Morning Glory. I’m a bit of a sucker for Korean Beauty products so I got a couple of face masks, 2 nude-ish nail polishes and a glittery ‘tear eye liner’ which I assume is for around your tear duct ( or maybe its meant for drawing on glitter-y tears? Stay tuned) All this only cost me $20, bargain shopping!

Totally knackered, or in Steve’s recollection “feeling under the weather”, we decided it was time to make an exit. Sunday Funday was finished at home with Falafel wraps, red wine and a bit of Downton Abbey (if you dare to tease me watch a few episodes for yourself, that show is off the chain!)

Every gal loves trying new products, right? Whether it’s something that has been recommended to them, something they’ve seen advertised (guilty) or just something they have happily stumbled upon, finding a holy grail product is like finding hidden treasure! I’ve had many-a experience with different products, as I’m sure we all have, but today I wanted to focus on a few that have been tickling my fancy the past couple of months. Some are old favourites that I’ve revisited and thought “where have you beeeeen?” and others are new to the block but have still left me thinking the same thing!!

DR HAUSCHKA ROSE DAY CREAM:

This little baby has been in my life a few times before. A few of you may remember in my last skincare post here that I mentioned I have a slight penchant for chopping and changing when it comes to skincare. One brand I know that I can rely on though is Dr Hauschka. I first tried their products back in 2014 and it was definitely love at first application. I bought the little face kit which

Rose Day Cream

contains all their cult products in miniature form so that you can test each cream and see which your skin prefers. The brand is all natural and organic and my skin absolutely loves the stuff. I’m only mentioning one of their products today but that’s only because I feel this day cream is worth a special mention.

The Rose Day Cream is one of my all time faves. The smell, the texture, but mostly the amazing effect it instantly has on my face! Recommended for normal, dry and sensitive skin the texture is rich and luxurious and calms down any unwanted redness. This stuff is so great for me as I am normal/dry but I suggest if you are prone to oilyness this guy might just ramp that up for you so maybe try the tester size first just to be sure. Each tube contains 30 organic roses, vitamin C, wild rose hip, shea butter, avocado oil, extracts of marshmellow plus many more amazing all natural ingredients. You only need a small amount, warm it up between your hands and then press lightly onto the skin. It leaves me glowy and moisturised, calms down some of my unwanted redness (thanks pale skin!) and as an added bonus, my face smells like a field of roses! Definitely worth a try 🙂 You can buy Dr. Hauschka at all Myer stores or if you live in Sydney I buy mine from Dr. Earth located in Newtown.

ESTEE LAUDER ADVANCED NIGHT REPAIR:

Advanced Night Repair

This next product had been something I had been wanting for a while and I guess you could say is a bit of a cult product. It is advertised eeeeeverywhere, so naturally I had high expectations. Luckily enough I was not disappointed 🙂 Estee Lauder’s Advanced Night Repair is like liquid-y gold for the face and I’ve become a little obsessed by it. I’ve never used much in the way of night skin care before but something of late has made me realise I’m not getting any younger and I need to preserve the skin I have! Those 9 hours mustn’t go to waste! So I bought this Duty Free on my way to Hong Kong. Its promoted to reduce the look of all key signs of ageing and what I’ve already noticed (after about 4 weeks) is that my skin feels more hydrated, brighter and smoother #yeahbaby! I know it’s slightly dear but you will only need to use 2-3 drops every night so the longevity is great and plus you will wake up with the skin of a baby’s bum! On your face! That sounded better in my head…

BECCA UNDER EYE BRIGHTENING CORRECTOR:

Under Eye Corrector

Lastly, is a makeup product I have been using EVERY DAMN DAY since purchasing it. I’ve even used it with my competition makeup it’s that dang good. The Becca Under Eye Brightening Corrector. As you have probably noticed I have quite pale skin, couple this with working late hours at the dance studio and you have yourself some pretty attractive under eye circles. I’ve tried all sorts of concealers and what not to try to cover those dark circles but I just find that because the under eye area is so delicate, thick products tend to get too cakey and flakey #poet. So, I was a bit too excited to try this product after I spotted it at Sephora about a month or so ago. It’s pale pink in colour and extremely rich and creamy so you don’t need to use a lot. I pop it on with a brush in a small triangle under my eye and then tap it in with my ring finger to make sure its nice and blended. There you can either leave as is, but I like to then place a small amount of concealer on top to set it and tone down some of the pinky-ness (not too much though!) Becca is a popular Australian brand with some beautiful products which you can either shop online or in Sephora.

So if I have managed to tempt you with the idea of some of these products, please let me know! What are some of your all time favourites?

Love, Rachelle xx

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I’m one of those types of gals that is constantly chopping and changing when it comes to skincare products. Maybe it’s because I haven’t yet felt the touch of my skin care BAE #sarcasmintended or maybe its just because I am living in the ‘grass is greener’ mindset. Either way, its lead me to become a little bit of a guinea pig in my own skincare journey.

I have pretty normal type skin, the occasional breakout before flow comes to town is about the worst of it. But… I spend a buttload (literally) of time sat on an airplane. Let me tell you, the silver flying box really isn’t a trip to the facialist. So because of this, I have been told (by a lovely lady at Dermalogica) my skin can sometimes be on the drier side.

This is usually my story when I head into any beauty department store on the hunt for new skincare and recently it landed me at Lancôme. I haven’t tried any of Lancôme’s products in the past but as a cult Lisa Eldridge follower on YouTube (she is currently the global creative director for Lancôme for those of you wondering!) I was more than willing to give some stuff a go. I ended up coming away with the Doceur cleansing duo and the Hydra zen gift pack… Bring on the freebies!

After using the products for well over 2 and a half months now I am a) noticing a change in my skin, b) all out of the freebies *see photo above and c) receiving lovely comments on my skin, win!

The products all have a slight floral scent and whilst bringing moisture and life back into my skin they don’t at all feel heavy and oily like some products I’ve tried for dry skin in the past. I love the whole ritual of cleansing, toning and moisturising, whether its to wake myself up or help wind down after a rough day at the dance studio so I use these products morning and night, switching the day and night cream.. obviously!

Overall my skin feels softer and my complexion is brighter which makes me a very happy chappy! So, if your anything like me with skin that can sometimes rival an arid desert I really recommend you give these products a try. I know they are a little on the pricey side but if you try them through buying the gift packs you really do get your money’s worth with all the added extras! Besides if there’s one thing we should all be investing in (in my opinion) it’s our skin as we wear it for life 🙂

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Rachelle is a 27 year old Australian Professional Ballroom Champion living in Sydney, NSW. Travelling the world she is constantly inspired by whatever surrounds her and that is reflected in Pink Suede. Have a look around and enjoy!